


Offside Trap

by LilMissAwesome



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Based on a True Story, Blind Date, First Meeting, Irondad, Kinda..., M/M, Meet-Cute, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Soccer, pet tarantula
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-11 15:41:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19930474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilMissAwesome/pseuds/LilMissAwesome
Summary: Peter invited his new friend from little league soccer over to watch a movie, but Bucky isn´t really what his dad Tony was expecting.(Based on a true story)





	Offside Trap

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Offside Trap](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23987551) by [Ileana_N](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ileana_N/pseuds/Ileana_N)



> My entry for the first day of WinterIron Week 2019 - for the prompt "first meeting".
> 
> This has not been edited as much as it probably should have for time (and stupid co-worker) reasons. So if you find any mistakes please let me know.
> 
> Also, all i know about soccer is that it´s a game people apparently play and that it really hurts if a soccer ball hits you in the stomach. Likewise, all I know about the US military comes from watching NCIS - so again, any mistakes please let me know.

"So Petey-Pie, how was soccer practice?" Tony asked as he placed a sandwich and a glass of juice in front of his son. "Did you score a lot of... What are they called again? Touchdowns? Homeruns?" 

Peter, very familiar with his dad's attempts at humor, just rolled his eyes and mumbled through a mouth full of bread and cheese "Goals, dad. They are called goals. And I scored 3 of them!" The 8-year-old held out 3 mayonnaise covered fingers to get his point across, quickly opening his hand when his father moved in for a high-five. "Great Job, kiddo." Tony sat down opposite Peter, his own sandwich in front of him. "So, you're all set for the first real game?" 

This time Peter actually swallowed his food - there was apparently still hope for the kid - before replying: "I think so. I was practicing that thing Coach Sam showed me, you know, to stop me stepping on the ball and Bucky said I was getting really good..." 

And there he was. Ever since Bucky - and what kind of parents named their kid Bucky? - had joined the Lil' Avengers he'd become a literal household name in the Stark...well, household. And Tony was happy about it, really. The whole point of signing Peter up for Little League Soccer had been for him to make friends. And Peter got along well with everyone on the team and he really liked his coach.

But Bucky was something else. If Peter was to be believed the other kid was not only a soccer God but also funny and smart, came to practice on his very own bike and could quote all the original Star Wars movies - and really what more was there? 

And Tony was not jealous of an 8-year old, thank you very much!

"So, Dad..." Peter started, pulling Tony out of his musings. He knew that tone. That was the tone Peter used when he wanted something. Last time Tony had heard it he´d ended up in a pet store looking at Tarantulas. 

"Yes, Peter." he prompted, very much against his better judgement.

"We were talking today, and Bucky has never seen the Lego movie!" 

Tony made a point to look appropriately outraged, knowing full well that his son knew the entire movie by heart since he was usually the poor soul that had to watch it with him. (He´d actually caught himself humming "Everything is Awesome" while working the other day. It was horrifying! Kudos to Bucky´s parents for keeping their house free of this horror!) "I will immediately inform the authorities. Do you think this is a case for Homeland or should I go international right away?"

Peter scrunched up his face, not liking the way the conversation was going. "Or...maybe I could invite Bucky over to watch it."

Bingo! If Tony were a betting man, he would have placed his child´s College fund on the conversation being headed that way. But since he was also an awesome dad (he had the coffee mug to prove it) he instead pretended to be taken completely by surprise by the idea.

“You know what, Peter-the-Great, that´s an awesome idea. Let me just find that phone list that Coach Sam handed out at the beginning of the season and I´ll call his …Peter, what did you do?”

Tony stopped his ramblings when he saw the guilty look Peter was trying to hide behind his glass of orange juice – another look he was way to familiar with.

“I might have told him that he could come over today…”

Tony sighed at his son´s confession. “Pete, c´mon buddy. We´ve been over this. What did I tell you about making spontaneous plans like that?”

“That I should always run them past aunt Pepper, because she is the only one who really knows your schedule.” Yeah, Tony couldn´t really argue with that. “But dad, I knew you didn´t have any plans for today because you promised you´d hang out with me after practice and I thought it would be okay if Bucky joined us…”

Before Tony could come up with an argument against this, the doorbell rang.

"Well, at least his timing is good." Tony said, getting up and heading for the door. He made sure to ruffle Peter´s hair as he was walking past the boy to show him that he wasn´t really upset with him. "Finish your food and then clear the table please. We don´t want your Bucky to think we live like savages."

"But we do!" Peter said, shoving the rest of his sandwich into his mouth in one go to prove his point before giving his dad a wide, bread-and-cheese filled smile as he started to collect their plates.

For a second Tony pictured the reaction a reply like this would have gotten him as a child - silent disappointment and painful disapproval - but he quickly shook it off and went to open the door for his son's new friend.

But instead of a 8-year old in a soccer jersey and scrapped knees, Tony suddenly found himself face to face (okay, face to impressive pecs, he´s short, he knows...) with a decidedly grown-up...well, man - there really was no other word for it. The guy was wearing a simple and well-worn leather jacket over a T-Shirt with a faded image of the Death Star on it and jeans that were so tight Tony feared for the circulation in his boot-covered feet. His brown hair was pulled back in one of these horrible man-buns - except he totally made it work - and his eyes where a very interesting shade of blue-grey. 

"Hi, you must be Peter´s dad. I´m James." And that made sense. Of course, Bucky would have a parent drop him off - except there was no sign of a kid anywhere in the hallway.

And also, Peter had just brushed past Tony with an excited squeal of "Bucky!" as he grabbed the stranger´s hand and proceeded to pull him into the apartment. 

To say Tony was confused wouldn´t really be true. He had a vague idea of what was going on...but Peter wouldn´t, would he? 

Tony realized he´d been staring at the guy - Bucky, apparently - when their eyes met over Peter´s head. "Is now a bad time?" Bucky asked and Tony quickly shook his head. 

"Just take a seat, Peter and I will be back in a second." And with that he led the boy along the hallway and into his room.

"So, that´s Bucky?" Tony asked as soon as the door had closed behind them.

Peter replied with a careful "Yes", trying - and failing - to act as if he wasn´t really sure what his dad was asking.

"You never told me that he´s... you know...a grown-up." 

"I never said he wasn´t..." 

Which was...true, now that Tony thought about it. (And somewhere Edwin Jarvis was laughing at him for having a kid just as smart-mouthed as Tony himself had been) But still, "That´s not the point Pete and you know it. Why did you invite him over - and the real reason this time, please."

Peter let out a defeated sigh and sat down heavily on his bed. "It´s just...I know uncle Rhodey is still overseas and aunt Pepper is busy with work and you don´t really have any other friends and Bucky is cool and funny and he likes a lot of the things you like and that I like as well, which makes him way better than Ty and I just thought...maybe you could be friends..."

Sometimes the whole single-parent thing was really hard, Tony would be the first one to admit that. But when you had an awesome, perceptive and thoughtful kid like Peter maybe all the night spent not sleeping because of ear-infections and all the appointments that had to be cancelled at the last minute because of calls from the school were totally worth it.

Tony sat down next to Peter on the bed, hugging his son. "And you couldn´t have told me that earlier? I could have come by to pick you up instead of sending Happy and met him on neutral ground first."

Peter shrugged his shoulders in defeat. "Does he have to go home now?"

"If there is one thing, I learnt from your grandmother it´s that you never turn away a guest." Tony gave Peter one last comforting squeeze before standing back up. "So, why don´t you get you 8-legged friend over there into his transport box to show him to Bucky and I´ll go and set up the movie...which one was it you wanted to watch again?"

Peter dashed off the bed to give his dad a hug before hurrying over to the big terrarium in the corner of the room and Tony stepped back outside.

In the living room, Bucky was still standing in the same spot they left him in, motorbike helmet in one hand (so the bike Peter had been so excited about probably didn´t have pedals...) and his expression somewhere between confused and concerned. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine." Tony said, turning on the TV. "Except that you are still wearing your jacket and haven´t sat down yet. Do you want something to drink, our options are a bit limited at the moment, but I can get you water or juice or make you a coffee?"

Bucky put the helmet carefully on the table by the door. "Are you sure this is okay. You looked like you were expecting someone else."

"Let´s just say I wasn´t working with all the information at the time." Tony admitted. "In fact, let´s start over. Hi, I´m Tony Stark, Peter´s dad. Nice to meet you." He was holding out his hand and Bucky stepped closer to take it.

"I´m James Barnes, but my friends call me Bucky. I´m the assistant coach of the Lil' Avengers." He shook Tony´s hand with an earnestness that was belied by the amused twinkle in his eyes.

"So, how does a guy like you get stuck with the job of chasing a bunch of grade schoolers around a soccer pitch?" Tony sat down on the couch and Bucky followed suit, after slipping out of his leather jacket and carefully draping it over the armchair.

"Well, it´s all Sam´s fault actually. You know coach Sam? Right, well when I first met him it was still Staff Sergeant Wilson. We were both stationed in Afghanistan, me with the Army, he with the Airforce and our units used to play soccer against each other when we had some downtime. When I came back home, I ran into him at the VA. I needed something to do, he needed someone to help him wrangle the kids..." Bucky raised his hand in the universal gesture of "and now here we are."

Before Tony could respond to this in any way, the unmistakable sound of socked feet skidding along the hallway announced the return of Peter. So instead he offered "last chance for you to get out of watching that horrible movie... I'll even be the bad guy here." 

But Bucky just gave Tony a somewhat shy smile - and that look right there should probably be illegal - and shook his head. "Thanks, but Peter's been talking it up so much I'm kind of looking forward to it now." 

There was something in his voice that made Tony wonder if Bucky was only talking about the movie. But just then a small plastic box with a huge tarantula was shoved between their faces - and God, Tony hoped their guest didn't have a problem with spiders... 

"Bucky, that's Stanley, dad got him for me for my last birthday." Peter introduced his 8-legged pet and Bucky was apparently a stronger man than Tony because he just grabbed the small terrarium and peered at its occupant. 

"Well, hello there Stanley, you gonna watch a movie with us?" The tarantula reached out one of his hairy legs, carefully touching the side of the box and Bucky touched the same spot with his finger. "I´ll take that as a 'yes'." This was enough to send Peter into a fit of laughter that had him tumbling over the back of the couch, right between the two men already sitting there.

Tony helped the boy scramble upright again before handing him the remote. "Let´s get this party started then."

And well, it wasn´t really a party – at least not the kind that Tony remembered from the days when he still went to parties - but a fun afternoon/evening. After the Lego movie - during which Peter had been constantly singing along and/or explaining the finer plot details to Bucky - they ordered Pizza which they ate while watching The Princess Bride, to which both Bucky and Tony kept up a running commentary. 

At some point Peter had migrated to the floor where he was currently fast asleep, his small body wrapped around Stanley´s box. Tony turned the TV off as the credits started running, leaning back against the couch. "So, that was fun, right? "

"Yeah." Bucky replied, his voice a little sleepy. He stretched his arm that was resting on the back of the couch, causing the tips of his fingers to brush against Tony´s shoulder – only for a split second though, before he stood up. "We should totally do this again some time. "

Tony followed suit and suggested: "Do you have some time on Saturday maybe?"

Bucky shook his head, but there was a smile on his face as he reminded Tony. "The first real match of the season is on Saturday."

Tony wanted to bang his head against the doorframe. Now Bucky probably thought he was a horrible father who forgot the most important events in his son´s life. "I knew that…I mean, I obviously forgot it. But I have a reminder on my phone, and I printed out the schedule and put it on the fridge, so it´s not like I would have forgotten…"

"Tony, it´s fine…" Bucky said, stopping the rambling by placing a hand on the other man´s shoulder. "In fact, if you´d be interested, maybe we could get something to eat after the game?"

Tony raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Coach Bucky, is this your way of asking me to help you look after 15 rowdy kids as they stuff their tiny faces with victory-pizza?"

Bucky´s smile lit up his entire face as he shook his head. "No, Sam lost a bet so it´s his turn to take the team. " And now his look turned a little shy again. "This was actually my way of asking you out…you know, if you´d want to…"

Tony didn´t even let him finish the sentence before he agreed with a simple "It´s a date." 

**Author's Note:**

> Like I said in the summary, this is based on the true story of how a friend of mine introduced her dad to her now step-mum - except the original story had less soccer and spiders and more horses and nosy neighbors - who have now been married for 20+ years. She gave me permission to use this story if I ever became a famous writer...this is probably not what she had in mind...


End file.
